One
of the main reasons why a computer may keep shutting down is
overheating. If the computer is overheating, it will automatically shut
down in order to protect those vital parts that may otherwise be damaged
by the heat.
So shutting down is a good thing. It helps protect your computer and your files. It's a safety measure not a fault!
Even
the most non-technical computer user knows that a computer makes a
noise from time to time. That noise is a fan designed to keep everything
cool, and it works much as a thermostat may do on your central heating
system. When the heat in your machine reaches a certain temperature the
fan (or fans) will kick in to fan cooler air over the components, and as
the heat reduces to the correct level the fan will switch itself off
again.
If your fan seems to be coming on a lot, and staying on longer, it's a sign that you need to check things over.
The
most obvious place to start is the vent holes or grids. All machines
have them, and they're designed so that the fans can suck in cooler air
from outside the case. Desktops are particularly susceptible to getting
these holes blocked with dust. The unit is placed on the floor under a
desk and forgotten about. It's time to bend your back and check the vent
holes.
I've
seen people take a duster and wipe a lot of dust off these slots, but
if you do that, all you're really doing is pushing the dust to the
inside of the case. Far better than to take a hoover to it and vacuum
all the dust up.
Whilst
you've got the hoover in your hand, take the side off your case and
take a look at the fan (or fans) and you'll probably find that these are
covered in dust too, and that makes them far less efficient.
WITHOUT
TOUCHING ANYTHING WITH THE HOOVER, give the whole lot a good hoover up
and make sure all the dust is sucked up off your fan and from all the
corners of your case.
Nine
times out of ten these housekeeping measures will have your computer up
and working OK in no time at all. It's very rare for a computer to keep
shutting itself down due to software or hardware failure, and an
accumulation of dust induced overheating is far more likely to be the
problem.
Curing this problem first is both cheap (as in free), effective, and usually all that's required.
